Overlooking the world of SBS2003 and Office Systems 2003

There is an import files wizard template, that you can pick from the NewWeb dialog box. This will import all the files from a directory into a subfolder on the web. You then can build a page on which you can enter hyperlinks to the files. The unfortunate thing about this wizard is that it doesn't do that for you. Also, unfortunately, you have to enter each hyperlink singly. You can't select all the files and say have it put hyperlinks to all the files in the page you have constructed. Also, unfortunately, this directory then does not show any additional files that you may publish with Word, until you go in and create a hyperlink.

There is a way to set up a Dynamic table of files in the folder, that will show all the files that are deposited in the folder. First you create the folder and put a single file into it using Front Page. Then you open the folder, select the file in the page list control, and click properties. In the properties panel, choose WorkGroup properties, select an existing property, or add a new property that you want to use to designate the files you want to appear on your directory listing, check that for the document, and close the properties panel. Then construct your directory page.

Open the web folder in which you want the directory page, click File|New|Frame and select an appropriate frame--the simplest you want is the header and single pane frame. You might also want one with a footer, and/or side panel for navigation structure. I used the header and single pane and will talk about that. I put this page in a discussion folder, so there is already a page called my_discussion_nav.htm. Choose this one to be 'added' to the header frame. Then choose new page for the second, and you will get a blank page in the panel below the header. (The advantage of this page construction is you do not have to set up another bunch of navigation buttons which could get out of sync at some future time.) Index down into the lower panel to where you want a header to be, and type your header text, and choose the format you want. Then go to the next new line and click the Insert menu, and choose component and then categories. A panel comes up, choose the category that you set up for this directory, choose how you want it sorted and what info you want shown with the title, and click OK. In design mode it will put in a line for every file you have in the folder with that category set that says "File in web", or something like that. Those lines will be changed into hyperlinked file titles in the browser.

You will then be able to save documents to the webfolder, giving them the WorkGroup Category on the fly, and your save documents will appear in the next instance of the directory page. The one fly in this particular ointment, is that the server administrator has to setup WorkGroup property use on the server, for WorkGroup properties to be available in Word2000. I have looked through the Technet Monthly disk and the KB disk, and find only one mention of doing this, which is to look on page 565 of "Using Office with a Web Server". This sounds to be a book title. I can't believe that it is not documented somewhere on line, but I haven't found it yet. Without having WorkGroup property use set up on the server, you have to go in with Front Page and set the property on each document that you subsequently save. A major bummer.  Reading the existing documentation very closely, you see that to enable WorkGroup properties on an Office Document, you have to give it a custom property.  Then, when you pull up the properties panel in FrontPage, there will be a WorkGroup Properties Tab there.  When I bring up a document that is in a OSE extended web in Word2000, and one that has Workgroup properties applied, then I see the property listed as a custom property.  However, I don't have the ability to choose from the list of available properties in the web.  But if you know what WorkGroup property value you want it to be, you can enter it as a custom property in Word.  What I don't know is that it will then appear properly set when the properties are examined in FrontPage.

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Last modified: October 31, 2003